Tag: health

A penny for your lifestyle change?

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By Emily Feng-Gu

Everyone knows that if you’re in an OSCE station the first-line management for a chronic disease is lifestyle modification.

Lifestyle choices contribute to many of the chronic diseases that are topping the list of Australia’s causes of mortality, including cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and some types of cancer.1

Behavioural change is difficult, and a lot of how we approach the challenge of motivating patients is rooted in patient education. We lay out the benefits and risks, we set SMART goals, and we hope that information is enough to spur patients into action. That is, we assume people are perfectly rational – but maybe we shouldn’t.

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Sunshine on a rainy day: On sunlight and wellbeing

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By Erin Stewart

In this author’s humble opinion, autumn and winter are the best seasons of the year! It’s cosy, scarfs become mainstream, the ski fields start to open and hot chocolates become essential. A whole range of brilliant things! However, as summer disappears, the days become shorter, the sun is covered more and more by cloud and inevitably, the sunshine becomes less frequent.

Sunshine is such an important element of our wellbeing and happiness. So how can we enjoy the coming cooler months but also make sure we keep up with the essential Vitamin D our body needs as well as that sunshine to brighten our mood?

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On running (away from your responsibilities)

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By Calypso Magyar & Maisie Hands

For many, the stress of medical school and need to study can get in the way of partaking in physical activity. You tell yourself that you got way more than 10,000 steps in while walking around the hospital so you don’t need to do anything more on top of that, or that you can’t afford to take an hour off from all that anatomy you need to learn. Unfortunately that physical activity is often coloured by the stress of the day and doesn’t give you any space to unwind.

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